On February 6, 2003, Stella Obasanjo, the then First Lady of Nigeria and spokesperson for the Campaign Against Female Genital Mutilation, made the official declaration on “Zero Tolerance to FGM” in Africa during a conference organised by the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices. Since that day, activists, world leaders and communities across the world come together every year to seek an end to FGM.
Just over 10 years ago I took my first steps into activism in this newspaper, on February 6, to tell my story and see if I could help protect my niece and other British girls from FGM, an act of violence I was subjected to at the age of seven. When I spoke to the Evening Standard all those years ago I would have never imagined that I would be writing my column today from my birth city in the Horn of Africa, helping to lead the work to legislate against FGM.
Somaliland, where I am now, has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, with 98 per cent of girls having undergone it — typically between the ages of five and 11. But things are changing. Yesterday I was privileged to witness how. I have been to Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, several times before to meet the President and other leaders supportive of work to end FGM, but now I am seeing those political leaders and campaigners in the same room agreeing to a ban on FGM and supporting the policy in front of the Somaliland cabinet.
There is also for the first time a true understanding within the Somaliland government and among legislators that women and girls face cycles of violence when the root causes behind female genital mutilation are not addressed. As I have explained to many people over the years, you cannot seek to tackle violence against women and girls if you overlook FGM or dismiss it as some kind of cultural act. The persistence of FGM represents the worst effects of gender inequality which was until recently evident in Somaliland, but that really is changing.
As those in power in Somaliland, especially young men and women, are now the force behind a movement to help end FGM and other forms of gender based violence. When I visited the Ministry leading the legislation to ban FGM, I found people working on gender who were born and raised in Somaliland leading policy decisions, talking to the older ministers in a way that humbled me and filled me with pride.
The reason I started this campaign, as I said before, was to protect one girl in my family from FGM. But now as the CEO of The Five Foundation I find myself on the frontlines of this fight in Africa, meeting the real heroes saving generations of girls.
As I leave Somaliland today, I know that girls born in this beautiful country will not just have the joy of knowing peace in a region savaged by war but they will also know peace in themselves as they soon to be protected in law from FGM. Ending FGM in Somaliland is a true and tangible reality now.
Beyoncé fever in overdrive
Beyoncé is set to go on tour. The Renaissance tour, her first solo shows in six years, follows the release of her seventh studio and when tickets went on sale last week the internet went wild.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Beyoncé, but it seem unlike many of those I know who posted their excitement at getting tickets, I might have more “bills, bills, bills” than they do. One of my friends posted a screenshot of her receipt of the tickets and all I could see was the price. “How much for each ticket?” I wrote back — she agreed it was wild but it seems this made her happy.
I might be one of the few millennial women who does not see the hype because Lizzo admitted in her Grammys speech that
she skipped school to see Beyoncé perform — I guess spending cost-of-living crisis gas bill money on tickets to see their icon is not a new thing for Beyoncé fans.
